Down the rabbit hole

Oct 20, 2009

John Howard reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is receiving an award for protecting parks . Which, we suppose, is kind of like Chuck DeVore getting an award for stopping off-shore oil drilling.

 

"California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who threatened to close scores of California parks as a budget-cutting move, is being honored by a parks advocacy group for his work in protecting parks -- a move that has raised eyebrows in California.

 

"Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger, who vowed to close 100 of California's 279 state parks, and lawmakers approved a $14.2 million cut to the state park system. Parks were not closed, but the money was made up through cuts in services and hours, among other items.

 

 

"The National Park Trust said it planned to honor Schwarzenegger on Oct. 29 with its 2009 Bruce F. Vento Public Service Award "for his leadership and innovation in the protection of public lands in California and for his life-long commitment to children's health and to connecting them with the outdoors."

 

Dan Walters looks at the lack of legislation passed in the Capitol this year. "The Capitol's gridlock is so pervasive that the actual volume of legislation has continued to decline year after year. This year, f or instance, the Legislature sent just 872 bills to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk, the lowest in the four decades for which veteran legislative staffer Peter Detwiler has compiled data, scarcely half the number that Ronald Reagan received in 1967, the first year of his governorship.

 

"At the same time, governors have been rejecting ever-greater proportions of those bills. Reagan vetoed just 83 in 1967, while Schwarzenegger has rejected more than 35 percent of those he's received during his six-year governorship.

 

"The lack of legislative production reflects, one could argue, the Capitol's ever-widening ideological divide. The Legislature is almost entirely composed of very liberal Democrats and very conservative Republicans, thanks to term limits and gerrymandered legislative districts.

 

"However, most of the bills that make their way through the Capitol each year require only simple majority votes, so in theory, there's nothing to prevent the majority Democrats from flooding the governor. But they seem steadily less inclined to do so, perhaps because they know that Republican Schwarzenegger is not hesitant to reject bills he doesn't like, or perhaps the perpetual budget crisis has put the hammer on bills that expand government.

 

"A federal judge today blocked California from cutting in-home aid for 130,000 elderly and disabled state residents whose services would have been reduced or eliminated as of Nov. 1," Shane Goldmacher reports.

 

"U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland issued a preliminary injunction against the $263.5 million in cuts, siding with the plaintiffs’ argument that the state’s method of determining whose services would be cut was unfair.

 

“The short answer is we’re very relieved,” said Melinda Bird, senior counsel for Disability Rights California and an attorney involved in the class-action case.

 

Signs that it's a slow news day, number 246. The bee takes a look at Steve Poizner's economic plan.

 

"Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner said Monday he would restore order to the state's finances by cutting taxes, reducing the state budget by 10 percent over two years and creating a $10 billion rainy-day fund.

 

"Poizner's so-called 10-10-10 plan makes the deepest cuts in welfare, Medi-Cal and prison health care while finding the greatest savings – $3.85 billion over two years – by eliminating government waste revealed after a "top-down review" of programs.

 

"The plan predicts cutting taxes will immediately generate more revenue by encouraging businesses to invest in the state, Poizner said in a news conference."

 

Kim Geiger reports on new federal legislation that would set a floor for federal reimursements for doctors who treat Medicare patients.

 

"
The measure, introduced last week by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), would end the cuts and set Medicare payment rates at current levels. Doing so would allow Democrats to maintain the American Medical Assn.'s support for an overhaul without having to absorb the cost of higher doctor payments in the final healthcare bill.

The current formula imposes cuts to doctors when Medicare spending outpaces growth in the gross domestic product. Each year, Congress intervenes to ignore the cuts -- it sometimes has even increased payment rates -- at the behest of the AMA and other physician groups. The result has been an accumulation of rate cuts totaling 21% next year."

 

And finally, from our Stockholm bureau , we have this story that's sure to spark outrage from animal rights activists. AP reports, "The city of Stockholm shoots thousands of wild rabbits spread across the green spaces of the Swedish capital and sends their bodies to be burned as heating fuel, a practice which has enraged animal rights groups.

 

"City official Mats Freij said Stockholm killed 6,000 wild rabbits last year and has culled 3,000 so far this year, but said a subcontractor decided to use the cadavers as fuel.

 

"One should put this in the perspective that we (humans) are actually cremated ourselves and that generates a completely different reaction," Freij said in response to criticism.

 

Um, ok...